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How to translate marketing themes into solutions that mean business

Every company’s got one—the catch phrase that sums up its vision for helping customers reach new heights in performance by implementing the latest, greatest solutions. “Build an on demand business. Create an agile enterprise. Architect for full information lifecycle management.” You’ve read them all.

For marketers, building that visionary theme is exciting. Making it real for customers and prospects is another story. The latter is a tedious task and usually takes place in uncharted territory. Alas, most of us reading this newsletter probably didn’t even get to participate in those fun theme-building sessions. More likely, we were handed the new theme song and told to turn it into revenue.

We’ve watched several great companies struggle with this very challenge over the last few years. We’d bet many have been surprised by the cost and commitment to make any theme stick. Three years and probably billions of dollars later, IBM’s on demand theme is just now being embraced and adopted throughout its direct and indirect sales channels, as well as in certain customer segments.

Making your vision tangible and measurable requires an adoption process similar to that of any new product. And, the adoption rate is further compounded by first, the simultaneous evolution of technology and second, changes in the economy from recession to slow-growth recovery. The dynamic nature of our industry forces a more flexible methodology for building solutions and keeping them in line with customer needs.

Defining market-specific business issues
When mapping “point” products and services to the company vision, begin by identifying key business indicators or demands in your market segment. For example, no matter what analyst report you pick up, you’ll find experts identifying security, compliance, “always on” processing, customer care technologies, and information management as 2005 executive management priorities.

Next, look within your own client base to identify ideal customer profiles, along with their recent and planned initiatives. How are they implementing your technologies and services toward business gain? Where are they headed over the next three to five years? How does your customer evolution compare to what industry analysts are reporting? This process will allow you to not only understand where the industry at large is headed, but also to embrace and act on the specific nuances of your customer segment so you can build solutions that are unique and targeted. Finally, give consideration to your own company’s product/service rollout plan, the impact of those new offerings, and how they satisfy customer needs.

Building unique solutions
The process of defining your target market makes the process of building desirable solutions more straightforward. At this next stage, you should be able to easily identify specific products and services that can be combined to satisfy customer requirements. You may also discover exposures in your solution portfolio that force your organization to consider build or buy options.

When identifying the solution, remember that the point products and services no longer exist in the same form. Define the solution using its own new terminology and value propositions. Instead of combining too much into one solution, make the core solution simple enough to understand and address the broadest need base. Then offer optional capabilities for special circumstances. Make sure you can articulate how these solutions uniquely address business issues.

Launch International has tremendous experience helping companies of all sizes build solution platforms that make solid business sense. For more information, contact us at info@launchintl.com.